


This City, Seoul

by clickaching



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2018-08-31 16:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8585962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clickaching/pseuds/clickaching
Summary: Jihoon's struggling to pay the rent, so he puts up an ad online about how he's looking for a roommate. A couple weeks passes until he gets an e-mail from Soonyoung. The guy seems way too excited for his own good, almost a polar opposite to Jihoon, but Jihoon likes to give people the benefit of the doubt. He has the power to kick the guy out whenever he wants if he starts acting up, right? Hell, maybe the experience would give him inspiration to start pumping out more songs.





	1. Chapter 1

“I said— Okay, yes, I _know._ ” Jihoon paused, rolling his eyes to himself.

“What?! I’m not going to be murdered, mom,” he said, a hint of disbelief in his voice. “I’m old enough to not get myself killed.”

He wanted to add, “but I can’t guarantee that a serial killer won’t randomly run up to me and stab me when I’m least expecting it,” but he instead pressed his lips into a thin line, waiting for his mother to finish.

“I have to go, this guy is getting here soon— Roommate applicant, mom... I’ll call you back later, bye.” Without hesitation, Jihoon pulled his cell phone away from his head. He could hear his mother’s voice growing in volume and ascending an octave as he pressed the red “end call” button without pausing to hear her response. That might’ve been a bit too rash, even for him. Whatever, he’d have to deal with the consequences later.

Jihoon took a seat at one of the chairs at his dining table. He somehow managed to clean his place just enough to make it look like a human was living inside and not some sort of uncleanly gremlin, and he sprayed every corner of the apartment with Febreeze. Jihoon couldn't remember what time he went to bed, only recalling reading 5:22 on his clock before knocking out, but he did know he could only fit in about two and a half hours of sleep before he forced himself awake to get freshened up and tidy up around the apartment for a bit. God damn it, was he tired. He ran a hand through his dark brown hair, groaning. Hopefully, the applicant coming in (the guy’s name had been pushed to the back of Jihoon’s head already) didn’t notice how everything that could be deemed messy was just pushed off to a side or under another piece of furniture instead of being put back in the actual place it belonged.

What was his name again?

He picked up the single sheet of printer paper on the dining table and squinted at the printed text. “Kwon Soonyoung.” Jihoon shrugged to himself. A decent application, he guessed, though he wasn’t really in a position to be picky. It’d been weeks since he posted about wanting a roommate and this was his only response so far. What time was it now? He turned his head to look up at the digital wall clock he had put up. 10:13, it read. Their agreed meeting time was 10:15. He had time to look over their email correspondence one more time.

> To: [ljihoon1122@naver.com](mailto:ljihoon1122@naver.com)
> 
> From: [OuO_SOON0_OwO@naver.com](mailto:OuO_SOON0_OwO@naver.com)

Was he seeing that right? God, he was so tired. What a bizzare email address. Did this guy use the same email for job applications, too?

> Subject: Roommate Application!!!

Why the three exclamation points? Three, specifically. Was he really this excited? Jihoon was never excited to use any punctuation other than periods at the ends of his sentences.

> Body:
> 
> Hello!!! My name is Kwon Soonyoung. I’m from Namyangju; just about an hour away from Seoul if you take the train. I saw your ad saying you needed a roommate

The ring of the doorbell made Jihoon snap his head up and look in the direction of the door. He flipped over Soonyoung’s printed email and stood up, shuffling over to the door. Oh, right, he still had his fuzzy slippers on. Well, this _was_ his apartment (technically, for now); if Soonyoung had a problem with his slippers, then he could go ahead and leave and find somewhere else to stay. His mother’s nagging started to get to his head, and just in case it _was_ some crazy axe-murderer out to get him, Jihoon peeked at the video from outside his door. No crazy axe murderer, just a light-haired guy with confused eyes roaming around the hall. Confused? Shit, he’d probably been waiting outside for a full minute by now—

Jihoon’s thoughts were confirmed once he saw the guy raise his hand to press the bell again, and he quickly unlocked and swung open the door. Soonyoung (he _hoped_ the male was Soonyoung) looked straight ahead into the apartment before he slightly tilted his head downwards to lock eyes with Jihoon. It wasn’t like Jihoon had posted his height up on his forum ad, and he was used to those sorts of things by now, but it was still a little unsettling every time that happened to him.

“Soonyoung, right?”

The light-haired male (Jihoon could more easily observe the pastel blue shade now that they were standing one foot apart from one another) opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, offering instead a nod and a grin. “And you’re Jihoon, right?”  


Well, of course he was Jihoon. He mentioned specifically in his ad that he was living alone, what the hell kind of question was that? Hopefully, this guy didn’t think he was a kid or anything—he had a deep enough voice to avoid that question, or at least he liked to think. Jihoon nodded in response.

“Oh! Great, it’s nice to meet you.” Soonyoung extended his hand towards Jihoon, who in turn slowly placed his hand in his. Soonyoung had an unexpectedly firm and powerful handshake, Jihoon had to say, though he was telling himself to not overanalyze every little detail from the start.

“Um, go ahead and… take a seat.” Jihoon offered a small smile before gesturing towards the kitchen table he had previously been seated at. After shutting a door, he took a seat opposite Soonyoung, bringing the printed email to the forefront once again.

He felt weird. He could sort of tell that Soonyoung felt weird, too. This wasn’t anything as formal as a job interview, no, but the situation sort of had that similar air of anxiety and uncertainty around it.

Jihoon skimmed over the email once again, even though he had already read it a couple times and even took the time to make annotations where he saw fit.

“Uh… well…” Jihoon began, sensing the room had been quiet for much too long. He blew a raspberry, shrugging his shoulders at the email before looking up at Soonyoung. “I mean, I don’t see anything in your email that I would consider a red flag of any sort, so…”

“Oh, really? That’s a relief! I was looking at that piece of paper and I can definitely see all the writing and highlighting so I was concerned,” Soonyoung chuckled. Yikes, he could see all his annotations through the paper?

“Yeah, well… If I’m being honest, you’re the only one that’s applied so far, and from the page views my ad has been getting, I’m not sure many more applications are going to come in anytime soon.” Soonyoung nodded his head and made a sound of acknowledgement in reply. Jihoon studied his facial expression again. A hint of disappointment, perhaps in reaction to Jihoon’s desperation. No, no… no more overanalyzing.

“I mean, as long as you can pay rent, you’ve…” Jihoon paused. _“Got the job”_ wasn’t the correct phrase to use here. “…You can move on in.” The wording was kind of weird, but the message got through, nevertheless.

“Really? That’s so great to hear!” Soonyoung’s eyes closed up as he grinned and extended his hand for another handshake. Jihoon placed his hand in his again, but gripped with a little more firmness this time, as if his entire arm would rip off at Soonyoung’s enthusiastic handshake. “I was actually kind of worried coming up here, for multiple reasons, but I’m glad we came to an agreement so easily. Oh, uh, should I use formal language with you? How old are you again?” 

“I was born late ’96,” Jihoon replied with a nod of his head. Soonyoung nodded along, his mouth forming the shape of an “o” as he let go of Jihoon’s hand. Shit, had Jihoon really been holding on for that long? He couldn't tell if it was just because he was on the verge of falling asleep or if it was something else; either way, that was kind of awkward.

“Oh, I was born mid-’96! June 15th, if we want to be exact.” Jihoon wanted to say he didn’t care that much, but kept his mouth shut, just continuing to nod.

“So we can just talk like friends, I guess.” He tapped his fingernails on the glass table, taking another look at the printed email still in his left hand, as if he would actually refer to it in conversation ever again from this point onward.

“When are you gonna move in?” Jihoon didn’t know what else he had to ask; he’d get down to the little details like payments and door passcodes and sleeping or eating habits and whatnot when the time came, and the time for that was definitely not now, when he was running on a mere two hours of sleep. Soonyoung looked just as confused as Jihoon was, which Jihoon was somewhat grateful for. He didn’t really feel like being bombarded by endless questions about every little nuance.

“Uh… well…” Soonyoung looked up at the ceiling furrowing his eyebrows. “Is a week from today too soon or…?”

“That should be fine. Just give me a thirty minute heads up or something and we should be good; my cell phone number is in our email correspondence, but just in case…” He plucked a pen from the side of the kitchen table (he had pens and paper laying around pretty much everywhere in case an idea for a songcame to him) and scribbled his number onto the corner of Soonyoung’s printed email, ripping the piece off and handing it to him.

“Oh, okay,” Soonyoung said. He held the paper in both of his hands, squinting down at the numbers. “…Is that fourth number a three or an eight?” Damn, Jihoon forgot how messy his handwriting could be sometimes.

“It’s an eight,” Jihoon replied, offering a sheepish laugh.

“It’s okay, my handwriting is kinda bad, too. Anyways, if we’re done here… I didn’t really have plans for the next couple of hours; did you want to go grab lunch or something?”

“Um…” Jihoon began. Was it rude to refuse? There was nothing he really wanted more than to take a nap, but he couldn’t say that.

“I probably shouldn’t; I have some errands to run.” Hopefully, that was a good enough excuse. Soonyoung’s hopeful expression turned into one of disappointment, though he offered an understanding nod and a polite smile.

“Maybe next week, then, yeah?”

“Next week… Sure.”

"Okay! ...Oh, nice slippers, by the way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next week!! aw yeah!!! uhh well... i'm not so sure as to how to use this site yet so if anybody reading this can offer tricks or tips, that would be awesome. couldn't think of a good title for the life in me so i used a tiny line from a b1a4 song instead... so, i'm awful at sticking to regular posting schedules so i guess i'll try to update this whenever possible, maybe aiming for weekly updates if possible? i hope the first chapter hasn't put you to sleep and you decide to stick around to see where this goes because i have better ideas for the upcoming chapters.... yep, that's it; thanks for reading and hope you guys enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was just another ordinary day... or was it? Damn it, was it move in day? Jihoon was sure he had marked it down on his calendar, but it was nowhere to be found.
> 
> Shit.

Jihoon rubbed his eyes, letting out a groan. Just five more minutes, he promised himself he'd get up in five more minutes... at—he glanced over at his desk clock—12:32 PM.

12:32 PM? Well... that much wasn't out of the ordinary; sometimes Jihoon slept in until 2 PM if he could. But today, his damn phone wouldn't stop ringing. He picked up his cell phone from the side of his pillow. 7 missed calls.

Shit. Soonyoung was moving in today, wasn’t he?

His eyes widened; he flung his duvet off of his body so quickly it made an audible “thump” when it hit the wall. Once he was out in the hallway, he looked himself up and down. It didn’t really matter what his hair looked like, but was he clothed? ...Okay, yes, he was clothed. Should he take the extra couple of seconds to brush his teeth and fix his hair? The doorbell rung, perhaps for the hundredth time by now; Jihoon had completely forgotten their agreed moving-in time in his half asleep daze. Alright, then that answered his question—he’d answer the door.

Jihoon jogged towards his front door, stopping himself just in time to avoid slamming into the wall. His hand hovered over the door handle as he took a look at the video—yep, without a doubt, that was Soonyoung. Shit. Time to face the music. He swung open the door.

“Look,” he began, voice still huskier than usual since he had just woken up. “I’m so sorry; I think my alarm didn’t ring or something and I went to bed really late—or early, depending on how you look at it—anyways… I just saw your missed calls. How long have you been waiting?”

Soonyoung had to scan Jihoon’s appearance a couple of times before making sure he was seeing what he was seeing. “Uh, I’ve only been out here for a minute or so… We agreed on 12:30 PM, remember?”

Oh. Right. Jihoon remembered now. Well, not really, but he nodded as if he did.

“Then… what’s with all the missed calls?” Jihoon sighed under his breath, closing his eyes and running his hand through his brunette hair.

“Oh… Well, to my recollection, the first two were butt dials, the third was to apologize for the butt dials, the fourth was me giving you an hour heads-up, the fifth was a thirty minutes head up, sixth was another butt dial, and the seventh was just a few minutes ago to say I’m here.”

Well, Soonyoung was thorough, Jihoon had to give him that.

He peeked behind Soonyoung to see two suitcases in tow, and he spotted a backpack strap over Soonyoung’s left shoulder.

“It’s mostly clothes and basic necessities like bedsheets and toiletries,” Soonyoung explained. “Most of my stuff fit into these suitcases, but if there’s anything else I need from home, I’ll just drop by this weekend or something.” Jihoon nodded in response.

“Oh, uh, we were gonna get lunch, right…?” Jihoon turned to check the time on the wall clock he had hanging up. It’s not like he had forgotten the time, since he did just check it a minute or two ago, but instead, it was to avoid any awkward eye contact with Soonyoung. He didn’t want to look at the guy, fully dressed in a cozy black cardigan and white t-shirt, while he was still in basketball shorts and a loose t-shirt, stained with bleach.

“Yeah! But, it looks like you need some time to get ready, right?” Soonyoung chuckled. Jihoon could see him smile out of the corner of his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, definitely,” Jihoon responded, half-laughing as he rand his hand through his hair again. “It’ll probably take me half an hour to get ready. You can go ahead and unpack or watch TV or something while you wait. Just make yourself at home. This apartment is half yours now, anyways.”

“Okay! Sounds like a plan.” Jihoon stepped aside to let Soonyoung and his two suitcases inside.

“Remote’s on the coffee table, cups are in the cabinet right next to the microwave… If you go down the hall, your room is across from mine. Oh, we share a bathroom, by the way; it’s the door you see straight down the hall.”

“Got it!” Soonyoung responded with a smile. Jihoon turned on his heel without a second thought and dragged his feet back to his bedroom for clothes, just glad he was lucky enough to avoid a whole _“I’ve been waiting for you for hours”_ situation.

* * *

 

By the time Jihoon came out, Soonyoung was on the edge of his seat with his eyebrows furrowed, very intently watching a children’s cartoon show. Jihoon scoffed to himself. With what Jihoon had witnessed so far, that seemed to be in Soonyoung’s character.

“I’m ready to go,” Jihoon announced, making his presence known. Soonyoung whipped his head around, his mouth forming the shape of an “o”. With a nod, he turned off the television and stood up, sticking his hands in his pockets. “Where are we eating?”

“There’s a cafe across the street that I’ve been meaning to try. I mean, I’ve been there before for to-go coffee and whatever, but I haven’t actually sat down and had a meal there.”

Soonyoung nodded. “Sounds good to me.” He pulled a padded jacket out of one of his suitcases and put it on, zipping the zipper up all the way so that the collar was pretty much obstructing his mouth.

“Mmmf hmmf hmmmmmf?”

"...What?”

Soonyoung pulled his zipper down a few inches.

“You’re not cold?”

Jihoon looked down at his outfit. A sweater and jeans, but no jacket. He peeked outside. Was that… snow? God.

“Oh. I forgot it’s winter now. I moved to Seoul in the summer and never brought my winter clothes up from Busan, and I’ve been meaning to go shopping but I’ve just put it off for too long. I’ll be okay.”

“No, you won’t! You’ll get sick!” Soonyoung squatted down and rummaged through his luggage, pulling out another padded jacket. Really, two? Jihoon was surprised Soonyoung could fit anything more than two padded jackets in one suitcase. With a determined expression on his face, Soonyoung pushed the jacket in Jihoon’s general direction. The brunette stared, blinking his eyes a couple time.

“What are you waiting for? Put it on.”

Jihoon furrowed his eyebrows, hesitantly taking the jacket from Soonyoung and putting it on himself. Well, for one, the sleeves completely hid his hands, even if he put his arms up, and the bottom of the jacket reached the floor and made audible sweeping sounds every time Jihoon moved a muscle.

“I’m not wearing this,” Jihoon protested, already starting to take off the jacket.

“Ah ah ah! Keep it on. It’s way too cold outside to only be going out in a sweater and jeans.”

“We’ll only be outside for, what, five minutes?” Jihoon rolled his eyes.

Soonyoung pouted. “Five minutes is enough time for you to get sick. Come on, no more arguing, let’s go—I’m hungry!”

Jihoon audibly groaned, lifting his arms up and examining the too-long sleeves once more. Fine. He’d rather be warm and look stupid than freeze his ass off.

* * *

 

Jihoon managed to ignore the stares he got as he walked alongside Soonyoung to the cafe. Sure, people miles away could tell that jacket was way too big for him and, yes, he was waddling like a penguin but it was only a five minute walk.

He found it hard to ignore, however, the fact that the jacket took up half of his side of the cafe booth. The sleeves were sticking up almost over the booth seats, and they were close to hitting the heads of the people behind him. Jihoon kept his eyebrows furrowed with worry for the duration of the lunch date.

“The coffee they make here is really good,” Soonyoung said, breaking the awkward silence. Jihoon nodded.

“What do you… do for a living? If that’s not too straightforward?”

It was a pretty straightforward question, Jihoon thought to himself. He had to pause for a second to make sure he heard it right.

“I make music,” Jihoon replied. Soonyoung leaned forward, anticipating more, but Jihoon kept his eyes on the sandwich in front of him.

“That’s cool. I don’t have a job right now, but I’m majoring in the performing arts. Where you—err, _we_ live—is pretty close to my university.”

Jihoon nodded again. Soonyoung spoke some more, something about his interest in dance and how it started off with his interest in taekwondo, but Jihoon zoned out.

_ “We live.” _

That’s right, the two of them shared the same living space now. It hadn’t really processed just yet until Soonyoung uttered those two words, and with the way he had said them, it seemed like it hadn’t quite processed for Soonyoung either.

“...Well?”

Jihoon looked back up, his eyes widening. “Huh? I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I was just suggesting that you make me a dance track for a performance or something in the future, but it was just a meaningless comment. I’m not sure you even make dance tracks...” Soonyoung smiled down at his coffee.

“Oh, no, I do. You mean, like, pop music, right? I like pop. I do pop, mostly. That sounds kinda fun, actually. Let’s do it sometime. I don’t really have a job and I take online classes so I’m free most of the time.”

“Oh, really? I… didn’t think you’d actually take me up on that offer.” Soonyoung laughed sheepishly. “I’ll have to repay you somehow. Maybe… I could teach you how to dance?”

Jihoon scoffed. Soonyoung’s smile faltered.

“Oh, no, no, I wasn’t laughing at you or your suggestion, it’s just…” Jihoon panicked, trying to look for the right words. God damn it, Soonyoung and his cute, confused eyes. What? What was Jihoon thinking? “...I can’t dance for the life in me.”

“Ooh, a challenge!” Soonyoung clapped his hands together. “I mean, I bet you at least have a sense of rhythm, right? You make music after all. Do you… tap your feet along to the beat? Snap your fingers?”

“...Sure.”

“See! That’s a start.”

Jihoon chuckled. “Okay, I’m pretty sure snapping my fingers along doesn’t equate to me having potential as a dancer.”

“I’ll prove you wrong on that.”

Jihoon let out a defeated sigh. Soonyoung’s determination was really no joke.

“Do we have a deal?” Soonyoung extended his hand out towards Jihoon, biting his lower lip.

“Fine.” The two shook hands, the visible difference in arm strength drawing some stares from nearby tables.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school fucking killed me  
> it is my ghost typing this chapter for you all  
> i hope y'all haven't dropped this series because it's taken me so long to update... also merry christmas (if you celebrate)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soonyoung would leave to see his friend off at the airport and would return with lunch for him and Jihoon.  
> Well, that was the plan, anyways. Jihoon should have known that Soonyoung would try and find some way to mess things up.

This song was just not going where Jihoon wanted it to go, no matter how many times he adjusted the pitch or slightly altered the tempo. He’d have to call his mentor about it later, but for now, some more fiddling wouldn’t hurt.

Maybe… if he added backing vocals? But they would mostly be drowned out by —

His ringing phone interrupted his train of thought.

With a loud groan, he pushed his headphones down from his ears so they rested comfortably around his neck, swiping the green “accept call” icon without a second glance at who he would be talking to.

“Hello.”

_ “Are you by any chance allergic to cats?” _

Jihoon furrowed his eyebrows. He pulled his cell phone away from his ear. It was Soonyoung.

“Soonyoung, if you were trying to prank call me, you have to press ‘star’ —”

_ “I’m not trying to prank call you! Well? Answer my question.” _

“I… am not allergic to cats… But I don’t see why—”

_ “Okay, great! I’ll be back home in about half an hour, bye!” _

“Wait, Soonyoung—”

Once Jihoon heard silence over the other line, he pulled his phone away from his ear once more. Soonyoung had hung up. What a bizarre conversation.

Wait.

Was Soonyoung by any chance… bringing a cat back to their apartment?

Jihoon frantically pressed the “call” button, standing up from his computer chair to pace back and forth around his room.

Ringing… ringing… ringing…

Nothing. Just the familiarly robotic and uncomforting voice of the female speaker who said the other person was unavailable to take his call.

_ Okay, Jihoon… think. Where did Soonyoung say he was going this morning? For lunch? Groceries? Shit, why can’t I remember where the hell Soonyoung said he was going this morning? Why the hell did he ask if I was allergic to cats? _

Jihoon tossed his phone onto his computer desk and sat down again. He dragged his hands down his face with another groan. Soonyoung better not be bringing a damn cat back to their apartment if he knew what was good for him. Well, he’d know for sure in about thirty minutes, but the anticipation was killing him.

He sat up from his slouched position, grabbing his cell phone from his table and unlocking it. Messages… messages…

> **Soonyoung:** I’m going to see my friend off at the airport ^^ I’ll bring lunch home so don’t worry about it! I’ll be back soon!

Wait a second.

The cat… wasn’t going to be the lunch… right?

Jihoon shook his head, chuckling at himself. God, another crazed thought as a product of sleep deprivation. There was no way Soonyoung would be bringing a damn cat home for lunch.

Or _would_ he?

Jihoon stopped laughing. His smile quickly became a frown. With how eccentric Soonyoung was, he shouldn’t rule out any possibility. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. Hopefully, it wasn’t too late. He tapped the empty text box at the bottom of his screen at the speed of light.

> **Soonyoung:** I’m going to see my friend off at the airport ^^ I’ll bring lunch home so don’t worry about it! I’ll be back soon!
> 
> **Me:** What are you bringing home for lunch?

“Come on… come on…” Jihoon whispered, holding his phone in both of his hands and shaking it slightly, as if it would produce a quicker and more desireable reply from the other end.

“Read” popped up under his message. Jihoon held his breath as the three dots animation played.

> **Soonyoung:** I’m going to see my friend off at the airport ^^ I’ll bring lunch home so don’t worry about it! I’ll be back soon!
> 
> **Me:** What are you bringing home for lunch?
> 
> **Soonyoung:** I was going to buy chicken! ^^ Is that okay with you?

Jihoon breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God. Well, now that he thought of it, he really underestimated Soonyoung. He apologized silently to Soonyoung in his head.

> **Soonyoung:** I’m going to see my friend off at the airport ^^ I’ll bring lunch home so don’t worry about it! I’ll be back soon!
> 
> **Me:** What are you bringing home for lunch?
> 
> **Soonyoung:** I was going to buy chicken! ^^ Is that okay with you?
> 
> **Me:** Yeah, that’s fine

Jihoon tapped his lower lip with his index finger.

> **Soonyoung:** I’m going to see my friend off at the airport ^^ I’ll bring lunch home so don’t worry about it! I’ll be back soon!
> 
> **Me:** What are you bringing home for lunch?
> 
> **Soonyoung:** I bought chicken! ^^ Is that okay with you?
> 
> **Me:** Yeah, that’s fine   
>  **Me:** Come back safely

Of course, Soonyoung couldn’t read his mind, but hopefully that’d make up as a very indirect apology for thinking that he was bringing home cat for lunch.

> **Soonyoung:** I’m going to see my friend off at the airport ^^ I’ll bring lunch home so don’t worry about it! I’ll be back soon!
> 
> **Me:** What are you bringing home for lunch?
> 
> **Soonyoung:** I bought chicken! ^^ Is that okay with you?
> 
> **Me:** Yeah, that’s fine   
>  **Me:** Come back safely
> 
> **Soonyoung:** Ok ^////^

What the heck? That was so cute. Jihoon furrowed his eyebrows again, feeling his cheeks becoming warm. He shook his head, pushing his bangs out of his face. What was he doing again? Right, the song… The song… Ugh. He’d just call his mentor about it after dinner later in the night, but he could probably fit in a twenty minute break (or maybe even a tiny nap) until Soonyoung got back.

God, if there was a damn cat waiting for him when he woke up… He didn’t know what he’d do.

* * *

 

Jihoon was just beginning to doze off when he heard the front door unlock. His eyes opened almost immediately, and he flung his duvet off of his body and rushed towards the front door. How nostalgic of their second meeting, just two mornings ago.

“Wow, are you that happy to see me?” Soonyoung laughed as he took off his shoes. He was lugging along an unusually large suitcase in one hand, and he somehow managed to simultaneously hold a large paper bag full of what Jihoon presumed was their chicken lunch in the same hand. Soonyoung’s other hand, however… Jihoon peeked behind Soonyoung. Soonyoung was trying his best to hide it, but the plastic cage was just too noticeable.

“No. _No._ Absolutely not. If that’s what I think it is—”

Soonyoung set the plastic cage gently down on the ground. Jihoon could hear whatever was inside the cage meow.

“Okay, okay, I know it’s sudden, but you have to give me a chance to explain first.”

Jihoon crossed his arms over his chest. He scowled, trying his best to express how pissed off he was. Soonyoung just kept grinning.

“My buddy, Wonwoo, planned a trip to New York to go see our other friend, Hansol…”

_ These names mean absolutely nothing to me. I don’t know who these people are, so why should I care,  _ Jihoon thought to himself.

“...And he has a cat, right? Bean. That’s the cat’s name. Cute, right?”

_ I don’t care about the cat’s name either. _

“Well, anyways, Wonwoo was planning to leave his cat with our other friend, Jeonghan, since Jeonghan has a cat of his own and knows how to take care of them and stuff…”

_ Another name of another person that I don’t know or care about. _

“Hey! Don’t say that about my friends,” Soonyoung pouted. Oh, shit, had Jihoon said that out loud? Jihoon cleared his throat.

“Continue.”

“Okay, well… Jeonghan had to go out of town unexpectedly for some reason or another, I forgot the details, but he couldn’t take care of the cat. Well, I think Jeonghan left his own cat at our other friend Seungcheol’s place—”

“Please just tell me why there is a _cat_ in our _apartment._ ”

“I’m getting there! So, Seungcheol doesn’t really know how to take care of cats and it was really unexpected for Jeonghan to just, basically, come over to his place completely out of the blue and leave his cat with him. Anyways, Jeonghan couldn’t take care of Wonwoo’s cat, and _Seungcheol_ is already taking care of _Jeonghan’s_ cat so Wonwoo didn’t want to burden _Seungcheol_ with _another_ cat, and, uh…” At this point, Soonyoung rubbed the back of his neck and laughed sheepishly. “I’ve cared for things like chickens and hamsters and stuff, and I thought I would be able to give it a go, and so I offered to help…”

“So, you knew you were going to have to take care of a cat in advance, in an apartment that you _share_ with _me_ , someone you’ve only really known for a couple of _days_ , and you didn’t even think to tell me first?” Jihoon sighed. If he was annoyed before, he was full-on angry now.

“It was last minute for me too, trust me! Wonwoo called me this morning in a panic and asked me to come over to his place a little early, and I went over not knowing what to expect, and he just basically started freaking out about how he had nobody to take care of his cat, so… I mean, what else was I supposed to do?”

“Call one of your other ten thousand mutual friends and ask them to do it?!”

“I mean… the guy had to leave the house for a foreign country in an hour, we didn’t really have time to call people up and ask for help. You said you weren’t allergic to cats, anyways, so…” Soonyoung lowered his gaze, looking down at his own two feet.

It’s not like Jihoon could tell this damn Wonwoo to take his cat back, the man was already on a flight to New York or something, and the cat was already in their apartment, so he couldn’t just toss it out the window or leave it out on the street. He pinched his nose, taking a deep breath before speaking so he didn’t completely start shouting at Soonyoung. Soonyoung was genuinely just trying to help a friend in his time of need. Jihoon would’ve done the same thing, though he probably would have given Soonyoung a damn heads up with details instead of having it be a surprise.

“What’s the thing’s name?”

“Bean.” Soonyoung got down on his knees, opening the cage door up and reaching inside. Next thing Jihoon knew, he was face to face with a black cat. “He’s cute, right?”

“I asked for its name, not to see it—” Jihoon closed his eyes and took another deep breath. “What’s in the suitcase…”

“Cat food and other care supplies! And some quickly scribbled down notes, courtesy of Wonwoo. But if I can’t interpret them, then I’ll also stop by a bookstore and buy a book about cat care or something soon. Oh, and the internet! I can look things up on the internet.” Bean meowed again.

“...Fine. I can’t do anything about there being a damn cat in our house, so whatever. Guess we’re, no, _you're_ raising a cat for… how long is Wonwoo going to be gone again?”

“A week and a half.”  Sure,  Jihoon was okay with a week and a half. He was half expecting to hear that he’d be gone for a month, and would have been absolutely livid if it were any longer than two weeks, but that amount of time was fine with him.

“Okay. You’re taking care of it and feeding it and whatever. It’s your responsibility, not mine. I don’t know this Wonwoo so I shouldn’t be the one taking care of his cat.”

“Yay! We’re going to have a little buddy in our apartment for the next week and a half!” Soonyoung cheered, shoving the cat in Jihoon’s face again. Jihoon had to admit, the cat was cute and all, but he was still mad at Soonyoung.

“I’m hungry. Put the cat down and let’s eat first before discussing things further.”

“Okay!”

“No, _Soonyoung—_ Oh my god, you do not just… throw cats like that! What are you doing?!”

“I didn’t mean to! I was just going to toss him gently onto the couch—”

“‘Toss’ isn’t much different than ‘throw’! Oh, thank God, it’s moving… It’s unhurt…”

“...Sorry, Bean…”

“The thing’s not going to understand your apology!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if i'm being completely honest, this whole "soonyoung brings home a damn cat without jihoon knowing beforehand" scenario is what basically led me to developing this series... but this is only gonna be a little part of the complete series so it's not like this is going to be defined by the little cat lmao... and it's not a completely random addition either (u will see...)  
> and i'm awful at pet names because i've never had pets? and now i have to read up on how to take care of cats?? so... i'm learning as soonyoung and jihoon are, i guess, lmao  
> anyways, bean is our newest character everybody... please welcome him with open arms (paws???)  
> i'll try for another couple of updates before i gotta get back to school yo! hope you enjoyed and have a happy new year :^)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soonyoung leaves Bean alone with Jihoon while he's at school. As if Jihoon's room weren't enough of a mess already, the cat decides to make things worse.

“Jihoon.”

No response.

“Psst. Jihooooon.”

Still no response. _A little louder this time, that might do it,_ Soonyoung thought to himself.

“Jihoon!” Just for good measure, Soonyoung reached over with one of his hands and shook Jihoon’s shoulder.

Jihoon groaned and mumbled something in response.

“Huh?”

Jihoon mumbled a little louder this time, though Soonyoung could still not understand him.

“What was that?”

The brunette turned his head to the side so that his mouth was no longer obstructed by his mattress. “I said ten more minutes, Soonyoung! Leave me alone, I was up all night and morning.”

Soonyoung frowned, though Jihoon couldn’t see since both of his eyes were still closed. It looked like he was already starting to drift off again.

“Hey, hey, don’t go back to sleep!” Soonyoung snapped his fingers and Jihoon groaned once more. “I gotta leave for class now; I’m leaving Bean with you until I get back, okay?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“...What did I just say?”

“Yeah… Bean… something...”

Soonyoung sighed and glanced up at the wall clock in Jihoon’s bedroom, his eyes widening as soon as he realized the time.

“Oh, man, I’m really pushing it…” He held Bean close to his face and whispered something about being a good cat while uncle Soon is away before setting the cat down on top of Jihoon’s back.

“I’m leaving, bye!” Soonyoung shouted from the hallway. Jihoon groaned again, half in response to Soonyoung leaving and half in response to the cat on his back trying to find a comfy spot to lie down.

“God…” Jihoon murmured. He was still half asleep, trying to process the fact that there was a cat on his back and he’d have to take care of it for the next… however many hours Soonyoung was at school. And it wasn’t even Soonyoung’s cat, at that—it was Soonyoung’s _friend’s_ cat, some guy named Woowon or something that he didn’t even know. Great.

Was he stuck?

Yet another groan left Jihoon’s lips. Judging by the fact that the cat had stopped moving around, he assumed that it had found a nice spot to have a nap, and he wasn’t about to lie in bed all day until the cat decided on its own volition to get off. At the same time, he didn’t want to get scratched, either; the thing was nice to Soonyoung and all, but it didn’t seem to like Jihoon very much, or at least that’s what he concluded from his two interactions with it in the past three days. When Jihoon had first approached the cat, it walked away. The only other time they’ve crossed paths is when Jihoon almost tripped over the sleeping thing while trying to grab a glass of water from the fridge at 5 AM.

That was enough groaning, at least for now, Jihoon decided. Now, he just had to figure out how to get the stupid cat off of his back or, rather, get out from underneath the thing. He reached his arms out and grabbed the side of his mattress, pulling his body towards the edge. He couldn’t see where the cat was on the account of him lying on his stomach and still being facedown, but he didn’t feel the cat budge. Was it at all close to the edge? Maybe he should push himself farther off, so that half of his body was hanging off the edge; maybe then it'd be motivated to jump off his back. Aiming to do so, he pulled once more with a grunt, and next thing he knew, Jihoon was on the ground.

“Ugh…”

But at least the cat was off his back. Or at least he thought it was.

He pushed himself up off the carpet, wiping his hands on his sweatpants. With only one eye open, he could see the cat leaving his room.

“Yeah, fine, do whatever it is that cats do…” Jihoon mumbled, picking himself off the ground and plopping himself back into his computer chair. He blinked at his desktop. Everything was closed. That’s right, he'd stayed up all night finishing up the little tunes he had to send off to the broadcasting station with a day and a half to spare, allowing time for his mentor to get back to him with some final feedback. He might as well get a head start on a dance track for Soonyoung.

Though, it would be irresponsible of him to sit down and slave over a song for hours and hours with no end in sight, especially when he had a cat to be taking care of. Sure, it wasn’t a baby, or even a dog, but Jihoon knew himself, and he knew that if he started on a song, his eyes wouldn’t look away from the screen for the next ten hours… or until whenever they became so dry and bloodshot that he needed to shut them for more than a millisecond at a time. Besides, the last time Soonyoung had even mentioned the dance track was when they first had lunch together during their second meeting. If Jihoon were to bring it up again, he was afraid Soonyoung would bring up dance lessons again, and he wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

“Bean?” He spun around in his computer chair, calling out into the empty apartment.

No answer. Well, that was to be expected, it was a cat, after all. Jihoon sighed and pushed himself up again, roaming the apartment to look for the thing.

Bean was sitting on the living room couch, licking himself (herself? Jihoon didn’t remember). Of course. Of all places to sit, it had to choose his white couch. Maybe he should’ve bought a black couch instead but, then again, he wasn’t anticipating a black cat shedding all over his couch when he went furniture shopping. Woohyun’s notes about his cat were convenient placed on the coffee table, just feet in front of Bean.

“Okay, Bean,” Jihoon sighed, scooping up the cat with one arm. As expected, the cat squirmed around, trying to break free of his grasp, so Jihoon grabbed the notes as quickly as he could and speedwalked back to his room before the cat could scratch him.

Once in his room, Jihoon closed his door and dropped the cat onto his bed, returning to his seat in his computer chair as he flipped through the notes. His first observation was that this Wonho guy’s handwriting was extremely hard to read, but he could just barely interpret the notes.

“‘Feeding’...” he read aloud, clicking his tongue as he skimmed through the pages. He never really took care of pets before, but he think he got the general gist after a quick read-through. The suitcase of supplies was in… the living room?

Jihoon opened his room's door again, and Bean followed closely behind. The former stopped in place, squinting down at the cat. “So _now_ you want to follow me?” he mumbled, slipping through the door and closing it once again to make sure the cat was still inside. He’d basically place Bean on house arrest—or, more fittingly, Jihoon’s room arrest—until Soonyoung got home, again, whenever that was. He should text Soonyoung sooner or later.

* * *

 

Hour 1 without Soonyoung.

The suitcase full of supplies took up much more of Jihoon’s room than he had expected but, then again, there were clothes taking up a good seventy percent of the floor, so it’s not like there was much room for a suitcase to go in the first place. Bean did not seem to find this fact disheartening, however; every time Jihoon turned away from his computer, he saw Bean playing around in a different pile of clothes. Jihoon had put out a bowl of food and some water for the thing and decided not to bother it any further since it seemed to be engrossed in playing around in his dirty laundry.

* * *

 

Hour 2 without Soonyoung.

He hadn’t realized how long it took to go through all of his unfinished tracks and look for one that Soonyoung might like and was willing to edit further. Then again, Jihoon wasn’t sure what Soonyoung was looking for, so he just categorized everything that could be considered a “dance track” into a separate folder and left it there for later. An hour and a half of work seemed enough to justify a nap, or at least that’s what Jihoon had reasoned with himself to believe, so he laid back down on his bed. Ten seconds into having his eyes closed, he heard a loud “thud” and sprang up to see Bean on his computer desk, Jihoon's glass of water spilled on the floor.

At least the dirty laundry was there to catch the spill.

Maybe it was time to ask Soonyoung when he’d be back.

> **Me:** When the hell are you getting out of class
> 
> **Me:** The stupid thing won’t leave me alone
> 
> **Me:** I’m trying to get some sleep......

* * *

 

Hour 5 without Soonyoung.

Jihoon locked his phone and pushed it underneath his back, lest Bean try to scratch it up. Still no response from Soonyoung. Every time Jihoon closed his eyes, Bean found something new to push over or scratch at. He didn’t see the cat act like this near Soonyoung, so he was convinced it just really hated him or something. He had to say, Bean had a lot of energy, though Jihoon didn’t know how to get the cat to expend it on things that did not personally belong to him. Since he was pretty much getting up and lying back down every ten seconds, Jihoon had long since given up his hopes of giving up his nap, instead choosing to sip on an iced coffee while seated in his computer chair. He’d learned from the water incident to put his beverage inside a tumbler this time around, but that didn’t stop Bean from swatting at his cup along with every other thing on Jihoon’s desk.

Maybe he should move himself and the cat to Soonyoung’s room…

Jihoon chuckled. The thought was nice, but he wasn’t that mean.

His phone beeped and he leaped for it, making sure to keep the cat in his peripheral vision as he read Soonyoung’s text.

> **Me:** When the hell are you getting out of class
> 
> **Me:** The stupid thing won’t leave me alone
> 
> **Me:** I’m trying to get some sleep.......
> 
> **Soonyoung:** On the subway home, will be back soon! I brought dinner ^^
> 
> **Soonyoung:**  You were trying to get some sleep at 2 PM? SMH! Rise and shine!!!!!!

Jihoon sighed. Did Soonyoung know nothing about his irregular sleeping schedule? He ignored the second text and responded with a quick “thanks for dinner” to acknowledge the messages.

* * *

 

Soonyoung called out Jihoon's name a couple of times. There was no response. Trying to keep himself from worrying too much, he slipped off his sneakers, tossed his backpack on the couch, and made his way towards Jihoon's bedroom.

Bags of food still in his hand, he used his elbow to push down on the door handle. The door stopped short, and he heard a weak "ow" in response.

Sitting cross-legged on the foot of his bed was Jihoon, looking up at Soonyoung with furrowed eyebrows. He had dark circles under his eyes (but Soonyoung wasn't sure if those were new or if they'd been there before), and he looked like he had just been rudely awakened.

"Well, _some_ one finally decided to come home."

"I've had class the past couple of hours; don't blame me, blame my school!" Soonyoung chuckled, setting a bag of food down next to Jihoon. "You haven't eaten yet, have you?"

Jihoon shook his head, opening up the plastic bag. The crinkling attracted to the attention of Bean, who made his way over to sit down in Jihoon's lap.

"Oooh, are you guys finally friends now?"

"No. Take him to your room and keep him there. Because of him, I haven't been able to sleep or do much of anything for the past six hours. I've had to be on watch to make sure he doesn't make a mess of my room."

Soonyoung looked around. There were clothes all over the floor, but that was pretty much how Jihoon's room always looked. Penetrating the strong smell of unwashed clothing was the distinct odor of cat fur. Besides that, the only other thing he could notice was the thin layer of black cat hair covering every surface.

"Fine, fine," Soonyoung said, leaning down to scoop the cat up into his arms.

"Wait," Jihoon called out before Soonyoung could leave the room. Soonyoung turned on his heel, looking down at Jihoon again inquisitively. "The dance track... I pulled some old demos from deep in my music folders for you to listen to. I mean, if you still wanted a dance track, we could go through those and edit one together, or we can make one from scratch." Soonyoung's eyebrows raised. He was probably surprised that Jihoon had remembered; it was really just a fleeting topic in an awkward conversation. He was only half serious about it, anyways.

"Um... sure! Is Sunday okay with you? Besides homework and taking care of Bean, I have dance practice through Saturday."

Jihoon had forgotten how busy Soonyoung was and, in contrast, how much free time he had. He really shouldn't be complaining about taking care of a cat; it was the least he could do, and yet, he could barely even do that much.

"Is... Sunday not okay...?"

Jihoon looked up to see Soonyoung's eyebrows furrowed in worry. Jihoon had probably been making a face and sitting there contemplating their contrasting lifestyles for a good thirty seconds before Soonyoung decided to speak up.

"Oh, uh, yeah, any day is fine with me. I'll be here, in my room, as always," Jihoon sheepishly laughed.

"Okay! Then Sunday, it is."

"...If I remember."

"If you— _hey!_ You have to remember, okay?"

"I'll... do my best to."

Soonyoung grunted, closing Jihoon's door as he left. Once the door was closed, Jihoon chuckled to himself as he began to dig into his dinner. Then again, it probably wasn't ideal to be eating in his room—he could see cat hair flying everywhere.

"Wait, Soonyoung, let's eat together!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember when i said i wasn't good at updating regularly? ...yeah. this should speak as testimony of how bad i am at getting new updates up  
> and i have to go back to school too so they may be even slower now... oops  
> but i'm gonna try!!! i will procrastinate my schoolwork like a GOOD STUDENT in order to pump out some good soonhoon for you all :^)  
> which reminds me, this chapter was less of a soonhoon chapter and more of a beanhoon (?) chapter  
> but the next one will be more of a soonhoon chapter... i promise :^)  
> may or may not be a guest appearance from woowon/woohyun/wonho himself.... :^)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon is finally started to get used to the black cat living with him and Soonyoung. The black fur everywhere, he could do without, though.

By day nine or ten of Bean’s cohabitation with Soonyoung and Jihoon, the younger male had finally started getting along with the cat… or, at least, the two had sorted out some kind of a mutual, unspoken agreement with each other. While Soonyoung was at school or dance practice or doing God knows what all day, Jihoon would stay at home with the little thing, the two of them locked up in his bedroom as they waited for Soonyoung to get home. Bean would roll around in Jihoon’s piles of clothing or swat at some cheap cat toy or cardboard box he set out for the cat, and Jihoon would do his work, mostly undisturbed (but, just in case, he always did leave one ear uncovered by his headphones in case Bean wanted to mess with something that was off limits). As soon as Soonyoung arrived home from wherever he’d been, the black cat was handed off to him unceremoniously to be taken care of (or, as Jihoon would put it, dealt with) for the rest of the evening. After a couple days, though, the cat started spending its nights with Jihoon after a particularly hectic morning during which Soonyoung woke up to the first couple pages of his class notes ripped to shreds.

 

* * *

 

_“Oh my goodness!”_

Jihoon shot up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and turning his head blankly towards the door of his room.

A confused “Soon…?” was all he could mumble before he heard a shout of _“Bean! Did_ you _do this?”_ and finally decided to drag himself out of bed.

“What’d the little devil do now?” Jihoon asked groggily, entering Soonyoung’s bedroom and immediately stepping into a pile of shredded notebook paper.

“…Please tell me you type up your notes after you handwrite them, and if you don’t already, now’s a good time to start.”

“I mean, yeah, that’s what I usually do, but… I still have drafts of things and physical homework assignments lying around…”

With how completely exhausted Soonyoung sounded and the dark circles Jihoon could observe under his eyes, the brunette picked up the squirming black cat into his arms and stared back and forth between the cat, his roommate, and his roommate’s chaotically messy room. As much as Jihoon wanted to argue something along the lines of “you should’ve seen this coming, I’ve been complaining about this satan spawn for the last week,” he took pity on Soonyoung and just nodded his head in response, pressing his lips into a thin line before he let out a little sigh and opened his mouth to speak again.

“It’s fine. He… she… _it_ can sleep with me until your friend comes over to pick it up.” He surely wasn’t a mean spirit, he liked to think, though he could come off that way when he was tired and therefore easily irritated, but there truly was something about Soonyoung’s furrowed eyebrows and the way he timidly picked up his torn up notes off of the ground that made Jihoon’s heart… well, he didn’t want to say _melt_ , but it was something along the lines of that. Thaw might have been a good word to use to describe it.

Jihoon made a mental note to himself to tidy up all the sheet music lying around his room; this would give him a chance to utilize those three-ringed binders he bought for organization’s sake but never got around to using.

 

* * *

 

And so, Jihoon wakes up in his computer chair on a Saturday (or was it a Sunday?) evening to the sound of an uncharacteristically tired knock on the outside of his bedroom door and Bean snoozing on his lap. “Mmm, ‘ome in,” Jihoon mumbles, opening only his right eye and squinting as his eye adjusted to the blinding light of his desktop screen.

 

“Ready to work on a song?”

 

Right, it was a Sunday. _The_ Sunday, to be exact.

 

“Uh, yeah,” Jihoon muttered, stretching his arms out over his head like he’d been awake all along and _not_ napping.

 

“Sure you don’t want to push it off to another day?” Soonyoung chuckled, closing the door behind him and leaning down to poke at Jihoon’s cheek, to which the younger responded with a swat of his hand.

 

“‘m good, just…” Jihoon paused to sigh. “…Give me another minute or two to fully wake up.”

 

“Seems like you’re always sleepy or groggy every time I talk to you,” the blue-haired male lightly laughed. “Is there ever a time when you’re actually awake?”

 

“Yup. When I’m working on songs and you’re essentially locked out of this room. You didn’t know about it, but I have a stash of cola in my closet.” He looked down at the sleeping fur pile in his crossed legs and gently lifted the thing off of himself, tiptoeing over to set the cat down on his bed instead. Luckily, the cat didn’t stir much during this transfer. “Oh, uh…” Jihoon looked around for an extra chair, but he didn’t really keep any in his room, what with the floor space being mostly occupied by clothes and the closet space being occupied by… more clothes, not to mention the small size of his room.

 

“Don’t worry! I got it,” Soonyoung offered with a grin before slipping out of Jihoon’s room again. Jihoon could hear the wheels of Soonyoung’s bright blue desk chair being rolled towards his room. He used a hand to open up his door as much as it could possibly open as Soonyoung pushed the chair in (and over a pile of clothing, to which Jihoon mumbled a “sorry” in response).

 

“Uh, yeah, I think I should clean up in here… eventually, but I have some deadlines coming up so probably after that,” Jihoon thought aloud, chuckling sheepishly as he shut the door behind the two of them. “Just as long as everything for work is organized, the rest of my room can look like a pigsty.”

 

“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t judge you for how messy or tidy your room is,” Soonyoung responded with a reassuring wave of his hand, crossing his legs on his chair to mirror Jihoon’s posture. “My room might look organized on the surface but I promise there are empty chip bags in all of my drawers.”

 

“Now… that, that’s a safety hazard, I think…” Jihoon scoffed, raising an eyebrow. He passed the other a pair of headphones and put a pair on, himself, and the two turned their attention to the desktop screen in front of them. “Anyways, I had a few unfinished songs that I think could work as ‘dance’ tracks, depending on how you would define a ‘dance track’… You’ve taken a music composition class before, right? We can fix up one or two of these together.”

 

* * *

 

It was nearly 11 pm, three hours after the two had sit down to work on a song together. Bean had realized he was no longer in Jihoon’s comfy lap, to which he responded by jumping off of Jihoon’s bed and climbing back into aforementioned comfy lap. Soonyoung had the hood of his heather grey hoodie pulled up over his head, cheek propped up by his fist on the desk in front of him and lips pouted out. He was most certainly nodding off and, if not that, he was asleep by now.

 

“Hey,” Jihoon whispered, waving a hand in front of the other’s face upon realizing he hadn’t answered his question about the song’s bass. Soonyoung mumbled something and shifted in his seat, crossing his arms on Jihoon’s computer desk and resting his cheek in the bend of his elbow.

 

There were a few thoughts running through Jihoon’s head. Firstly, should he wake Soonyoung up? Leave him to sleep in this uncomfy plastic chair for the rest of the evening, empty cola bottles and chip bags strewn around his head? Make some sort of an effort to carry him over to Jihoon’s bed and tuck him in while Jihoon slept on the couch for the night? Could he even pull that last option off? In any case, Soonyoung looked… _cute,_ even if an empty Lay’s bag was poking its foil corner into his pastel blue hair.

 

Secondly, how had he managed to find Soonyoung so strangely cute in the past few weeks of living together when he hadn’t shown any sort of attraction like this towards anybody in months? Of all people, it was his roommate, who’d brought in a cat without prior notice, who he’d known for only a couple of weeks, who was making his heart skip a beat. It wasn’t hard to find Soonyoung cute, he’d decided, especially like his, lips pouting out and sleepy, but finding him cute despite how annoying he could sometimes get? _Something_  seemed to be going on in Jihoon’s heart that he couldn’t exactly control, though he wasn’t yet sure if it was what he'd consider a crush or not.

 

The stupid cat in his lap that wasn’t even his, a cute and cozy dance student falling asleep at his computer desk right next to him as he silently worked on his music. He was certainly jumping to conclusions, but there was something in Jihoon’s brain that really wouldn’t mind more nights like this one. He shook his head and rubbed his hands over his face once marriage and hypothetically spending the rest of his life with Soonyoung by his side crossed his mind. Now, _that_ was a sign he _really_ needed to get some sleep. Still, he couldn’t help but to think that there was something really sweet about this moment in time, even if he were the only one awake to appreciate it. He almost considered dozing off on his desk, himself, face precariously close to Soonyoung’s and all, until his belly rumbled and reminded him he hadn’t had a meal since 2 pm.

 

He reached over to grab another chip bag, the only food in reach, eyes still pinned on Soonyoung (who he was certain was now asleep) before he jumped at the sound of the doorbell going off. Who in the world was ringing their doorbell at nearly midnight?

 

Soonyoung stirred again, to which Jihoon offered a very calculated and gentle pat on the back. The brunette placed Bean on the corner of his bed again, tiptoeing over shirts and pants strewn across the carpeted floor to open and close his bedroom door as quietly as he could. He padded his feet towards the front door and looked at the video feed from the hall outside. A stranger. He wasn’t expecting any packages, though even if he were, he didn’t see why this bespectacled man would be here so late to deliver it. In any case, there were no cardboard boxes in the man's hands, which looked to be held together behind his back as the stranger rocked back and forth on his feet. Jihoon hesitantly opened the door, looking up at the chestnut brown haired male, who had to be a head taller than him.

 

“Oh, uh, you must be Jihoon, right?” The stranger reached his (unusually small) hand out for a handshake, to which Jihoon hesitantly took.

 

“Uh, yes, and you are…?” Jihoon raised an eyebrow.

 

“I’m Wonwoo. Is Soonyoung home? I’m here to pick up Bean.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...wow, alright, so. i'm not dead, miraculously, but school and stress reeeeaally got in the way of me updating this fic... i just realized, actually, that i started this a whole year ago and i've left it dormant since january. oops. i feel really bad for not updating but i've really been wanting to write lately and also get around to actually finishing this fic and maybe eventually writing some more...
> 
> i had initially thought about copying everything over onto a new work and adding chapters there, just because the original date of publication is ticking me off, but i feel like that's too much work and it'd be confusing so i'll just continue updating here. i still have another few weeks of school but i'm determined to try and keep this more updated and to pump out some more chapters that i've had stuck in the back of my head for a long, long while! i actually wanted to put more wonwoo in this chapter but it was getting lengthy so i just cut it off halfway, but until next week, thanks for reading again and i'm happy to be back! :^)


End file.
